Thanks for this article. I just studied this exact topic last week and put on my blog. One thing I learned is all the number one commandments (the number one in the ten; the number one in the New Testement, and the Number one with promise) are all about LOVE.

Great article. Thanks for writing!

I'm sorry but none of us have a problem loving ourselves. Thats modern day *pop psychology*. The love yourself, esteem yourself, cherish and nurture yourself mantra is just an excuse for good ol I,Me,My narcissism.

Loving self is totally contrary to everything the Bible tells us to do with self. The Word says no man has ever hated his own flesh. None of us hate ourselves. But rather he nourisheth it and cherisheth it. We love ourselves too much. All of us. The problem is not that we need more self love. The opposite. We need more self denial.

It is no longer I that live but Christ in me.That means that we must die and decrease while He increases in us. We are to kill ourselves. Our flesh that is. We are to mortify the body. Nail it to a cross. Be like Jesus who died.

*We HAVE to love ourselves with a holy love. We are not to love ourselves as the world does themselves.*

Only problem with your quote there is that it is not Biblical. Pop psychology and political correctness have *hijacked* Christianity. Self esteem. Self acceptance. Self love. The whole world is on a crusade to convince us that we would all be happier and more content if we would just love ourselves more.

I'm sorry but that's just hooey!

The Bible does indeed have alot to say about self......things like deny your self. Mortify the deeds of this body....(that means *Kill Yourself* in today's language). If you want to live you have to die. No man has ever hated his own flesh (self)....but he loves it and nourisheth it. We don't have low self esteem. No, we don't. We love ourselves. The Bible says we do. Ephesians 5:29 .

We all love ourselves. And way too much. Who needs Baal or Ashteroth? These days we bow down before the idol of self love and self esteem. I ,me,my.

The second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. Notice He didn't say love yourselves He knew we already do that and quite well thank you. Jesus told us to love our neighbors as much as we love ourselves because we love ourselves so much. He knew if we loved and served others like we do ourselves there would be no problems.

The world is upside down. The very thing that it seeks is the very thing God tells us to kill. Self seeking,self gratification,self esteem self importance all this selfishness is unBiblical. Very unBiblical. In fact the Bible says that we are not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought (Romans 12:3) and “let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves” (Phil. 2:3). If you want to be first you have to make yourself last. John the Baptist prayed that he would decrease so our Lord could increase in him. And finally ....Jesus Christ our perfect example knew exactly what to do with this flesh. He became a servant and allowed his *self* to be nailed to a cross.

Danielle, you are right. You missed the point, if we love ourselves then we are to love others equally. If we don't love others, then we don't love ourselves regardless of what some may choose to believe.

There are many in this world that do "not" love themselves. I'm sure that this is what the article is in reference to. There a so many that come from homes where there's some type of abuse such as myself. In growing up you're told all your life that you're a nothing and a nobody and that you'll never amount to anything. Children growing up in this type of environment, grow up not loving themselves. They are told they're failures and everything they try to do in life is never good enough. They grow up trying to prove to everyone around them that they are someone and they are somebody. Sorry Danielle but there are millions upon this earth that "DON'T" love themselves.

I was a minister for 10 yrs in a maximum security prison and over 85% of those inmates came from abusive homes. They were never loved or show acts of love from their parents and or family. I'm not trying to tear down what you spoken because there are those in this world that think about nothing but me, myself and I. However, Sis Clemans article if about those of us that grew up and never learned how to love ourselves. I know because I was one such person. The only way I could get any kind of attention from my parents was to act out. That meant stealing, lying, running away from home and many other things. Thus growing up many of these, lets call them bad spirits, attached themselves and after many years they became intertwined with ones personality and thus became a part of that persons makeup. I did suffer from these exact things for over 40 years of my life. I battled a spirits of rejection, low self-esteem, anger and being unloveable. I didn't know how to love because there was never any love in our home. There was fussing, fighting, alcohol and nothing that ever resembled what a family was to have been. Being a 57 yr old man I can't remember a single time that my father, mother or step mother ever told my sister, my two brothers or myself that they loved us. I came through two dysfunctional families growing up. My mother left us four kids one day. I was about 6 yrs old and I was the oldest of 4 kids. She up and left and we didn't hear from her again for over 20 yrs. My step-mother became an alcoholic and died from drinking so much wiskey. Children in this type of environment grow up and are dysfunctional themselves. The don't know how to love another because they don't even know how to love themselves. I'm not using my past as a crutch at all. I have allowed the Lord to come into my life over 30 yrs ago and He has performed many miracles in my life however I will say that I'm still battling some things but one day I will have that total victory. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, who makes me more than a conqueror and an overcomer. I am and have been a minister for the Lord. I am a licensed UPC minister and am the assistant pastor of my church. I will take what God has brought me through and use it to minister others that battle the same things. Letting them know that putting Christ first and allowing Him to work in our lives, helps us to love ourselves and love others... Rev R W Mahon